Think small to make it big
Think small to make it big
What advice do you have to help me grow my idea?
Idea Description
Rather than try to get your product placed in larger stores from the beginning, consider niche marketing as a better place to start out. The Suze's Zoo of greeting cards is a good example of this. Suze started out selling her cards only in hospital gift shops. Once she had established her business there, she was able to move to larger markets. Now her products are on everything from sheets to lunch boxes, and her greeting cards are sold in many of the largest stores. So, for business success, first make a name for yourself in smaller markets.
What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?
I manufacture greeting cards that I have been printing myself on several inkjet printers. Doing this is both time-consuming and expensive. My next step is to begin having my cards professionally printed. Given that I have over 100 designs in my line, going to press with such a large line will be expensive. And that 10K would certainly kick-start my printing
Vote for it now.
Incidently, this business model has worked well for my business. Initially many of my greeting cards were pictures of flowers, so I began by selling them in high-end nurseries. Then, when my local Whole Foods Market was expanding their garden section, I approached the manager about carrying my cards. Happily, he agreed to sell them in the store. My cards are now in many of the Whole Foods Markets here in Southern California, and I am in the central computer for the entire nation, so I am free to market my cards to Whole Foods stores in other regions too. Additionally, I now have a sales rep in Hawaii who is going to move my cards into hotels on many of the islands there. And this, I think, is an excellent way to grow a business: Slow and steady!!
I belive in controlling my company's growth. I am not pursuing really large contracts at this time. Since retail selling can be brutal, I don't want to ramp up production to meet a big order and then have the company I'm selling to decide three months later that my cards aren't selling well enough.Then they drop me, and I have 150,000 cards sitting in my warehouse and not enough orders for them. Slow growth is a much wiser course, I think. Thanks for you comment. M. Holmes
It's great that you have all ready established a market for your greeting cards, however, are you ready for the huge growth spurt professional printing would bring on?